Humanoid robot tops other bots in defense agency’s challenge

EXIT THE VEHICLE A robot called DRC-HUBO, which stands 1.8 meters tall and weighs 80 kilograms, successfully climbed out of a vehicle after driving on a course at the DARPA Robotics Challenge.

DARPA

By Meghan Rosen

June 9, 2015 at 2:30 pm

A human-sized robot named DRC-HUBO lumbered into first place in the finals of DARPA’s Robotics Challenge, a contest designed to inspire the creation of robots that can work in disaster zones.

The robot, a sleek silver-and-blue machine with wheels on its knees, completed an eight-obstacle course in 44 minutes and 28 seconds, besting 22 other robotic contenders June 5-6 in Pomona, Calif. DRC-HUBO’s team, a Korean group called KAIST, won $2 million in prize money. The second place team, IHMC Robotics from Pensacola, Fla. guided their bot through the course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds and took home $1 million.

DARPA kicked off the contest in 2012 in response to the lack of rescue robots able to help out in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.